How Far From East Side to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as East Side to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in East Side and extending to:

The White House (Washington, DC [Map]) is 251 miles [403.9 km] to the East (E). If you could drive a straight line from East Side to White House, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.

The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock [Map]) is 6,113 miles [9,837.9 km] and it lies to the Northeast (NE).<4>

The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba [Map]) is 6,827 miles [10,987 km] and it lies to the Northeast (NE).<5>

The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican [Map]) is 4,703 miles [7,568.7 km] and it lies to the Northeast (NE).<6>

Communities Also Named East Side ...

We have found 21 communities that share the name East Side.

While the name East Side is unique within West Virginia, we know of another 20 communities with the same name in the United States and Canada.

In addition to the above occurrences of East Side, we know of another community located outside of the United States and Canada.

Curious and Interesting Names Near East Side ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always talk about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

Notable Births & Deaths ...

This is a new section for us and we are still collecting data.

Below is our list of notable people who were born, died or were buried in the area surrounding East Side. Please note that while we are collecting data on an ongoing basis, it's a big task and it's unlikely that our list will ever be more than a sample.

Allison Hayes (Born as Mary Jane Hayes)

Actress. She was born in Charleston (West Virginia) on Thursday March 6, 1930 and died in San Diego (California) on Sunday February 27, 1977 at an age of 46.

Charleston [Map] is located Less than 2 miles to the southeast of East Side

Footnotes ...

<1>

Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- East Side) to Point B.

Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East Side. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3543, Longitude: -81.6407 [Map]. In this case, the coordinates for East Side have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.

The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from East Side to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.

If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that East Side could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.

The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.